Mazmur 17:15

17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; ¹ 

when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. ² 

Mazmur 38:9

38:9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire; ³ 

my groaning is not hidden from you.

Mazmur 39:7

39:7 But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying?

You are my only hope! ⁴ 

Mazmur 73:21-28

73:21 Yes, ⁵  my spirit was bitter, ⁶ 

and my insides felt sharp pain. ⁷ 

73:22 I was ignorant ⁸  and lacked insight; ⁹ 

I was as senseless as an animal before you. ¹⁰ 

73:23 But I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

73:24 You guide ¹¹  me by your wise advice,

and then you will lead me to a position of honor. ¹² 

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ¹³ 

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ¹⁴ 

but God always ¹⁵  protects my heart and gives me stability. ¹⁶ 

73:27 Yes, ¹⁷  look! Those far from you ¹⁸  die;

you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you. ¹⁹ 

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ²⁰ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ²¹  I declare all the things you have done.

Mazmur 94:18-19

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, ²² 

your soothing touch makes me happy. ²³ 

[17:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

[17:15]  ² tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

[17:15]  sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

[38:9]  ³ tn Heb “O Lord, before you [is] all my desire.”

[39:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my hope, for you it [is].”

[73:21]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “when.”

[73:21]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.

[73:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.

[73:22]  ⁸ tn Or “brutish, stupid.”

[73:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I was not knowing.”

[73:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “an animal I was with you.”

[73:24]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form here suggests this is the psalmist’s ongoing experience.

[73:24]  ¹² tn Heb “and afterward [to] glory you will take me.” Some interpreters view this as the psalmist’s confidence in an afterlife in God’s presence and understand כָּבוֹד (cavod) as a metonymic reference to God’s presence in heaven. But this seems unlikely in the present context. The psalmist anticipates a time of vindication, when the wicked are destroyed and he is honored by God for his godly life style. The verb לָקַח (laqakh, “take”) here carries the nuance “lead, guide, conduct,” as in Num 23:14, 27-28; Josh 24:3 and Prov 24:11.

[73:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

[73:26]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

[73:26]  ¹⁵ tn Or “forever.”

[73:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[73:27]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[73:27]  ¹⁸ sn The following line defines the phrase far from you in a spiritual sense. Those “far” from God are those who are unfaithful and disloyal to him.

[73:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “everyone who commits adultery from you.”

[73:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ²¹ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[94:19]  ²² tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”

[94:19]  ²³ tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”